Quarter of Children View Porn For First Time at Age 12 or Younger

One in four young people view porn for the first time at the age of 12 or under, with 7.3 percent viewing it under the age of 10, according to a new survey. Sixty percent had viewed it by the age of 14.

The research conducted by ICM for the BBC Three documentary Porn: What’s the Harm? also revealed that 62 percent first saw it when they were not expecting to, or because someone else had shown them, with only 22 percent saying they were actively searching for it.

The Daily Mailsays that the survey asked over 1,000 16 to 21-year-olds about their experiences of online pornography. Almost 50 percent of men surveyed said they looked for porn either “all the time” (at least once a day) or “quite often” (at least once a week), however only 10.5 percent of women said the same.

Almost half of young women said they never look for online porn, compared to only 13.3 percent of men.

Over half of respondents said that it affects what young people expect from sex, with 74 percent thinking that it affects men’s expectations in particular. Respondents said that young men expect women to behave like to women in porn films.

Ten percent said it turned women into ‘sex objects’ for men, and many young women said they now expect to be treated as such.

Presenter Jameela Jamil said: “I worry about the new generation of men whose first real introduction to sex is what they see on their laptop… They think we are supposed to look, sound and move like that. What’s scarier is that I worry young women are starting to think the same.”

The BBC Learning department say they will now adapt the content of the survey and the documentary so that it can be used in schools. They hope to better educate young people about the impact of pornography and how it can change behaviour.

‘Porn: What’s the Harm?”will be broadcast tonight on BBC Three at 9 BST